Comparing Trent Reznor and The Schroeder 'zine

A Critical Analysis of a Controversial Topic

8/26/2022 - Dan B.

In the 90s, many things existed. This is generally accepted. Two of the things that existed were Nine Inch Nails musician Trent Reznor and The Schroeder 'zine. This government funded research paper strives to examine the similarities and differences between the two and why one flourished and had a prosperous career while the other one clearly did not:

Similarities:

Trent Reznor is a bipedal mammalian organism on earth as are the members of the Schroeder 'zine, allegedly, and share the same “eyes, ears, nose, mouth” configuration we see repeated among many different species.

Neither Reznor nor The Schroeder staff attended Church. Trent Reznor frequently criticized western religion; the members of the Schroeder were only concerned with powering on the video game console a few feet from the sofa they languished on with a bowl of Count Chocula in their laps. Therefore, they did not allot much attention to the matter. Neither were religious, whether it be due to strong opinions or lack of available brain power. (see fig. 1)

Differences:

Trent Reznor went on to produce critically acclaimed LPs with a world wide audience, and then became an instrumental composer of both records and motion pictures OSTs.

In contrast, The Schroeder zine ended abruptly after a few years and garnered significantly less recognition than Trent Reznor, did not receive critical acclaim but instead failed to register on any sort of radar that would result in a negative or positive appraisal.

The Schroeder 'zine was primarily distributed on the shelves of a record store in New York City, NY, where the members of the zine frequently had to return to pick up the remaining copies at the end of each month so the store could save on dumpster space. It was reported in one instance that a handful of the zines were acquired by one woman so she and her daughter could boil them down and make “papyrus” for a school project.

Reznor's music played on the radio and his videos on MTV; he also took part in interviews. This tactic, known as “people being familiar with who you are or at least your product” stands in contrast to The Schroeder's obscurity and appears to ultimately be the deciding factor. (see fig. 2)

Conclusion:

Trent Reznor benefited from an institutionalized form of favoritism that The Schroeder 'zine was denied access to for various unfair reasons, making his success over the Schroeder Zine not only dumb but also total BS.